1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to wireless communication systems and devices and, more particularly, to a heuristically assisted user interface for a wireless communication device for use in conjunction with a wireless communication system having access to distributed network resources.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are already several hundred million subscribers to wireless communication services throughout the world. With this proliferation of wireless communications, it is becoming more likely that parties will interact with one another in instances where the only means of communication for one or both parties is through wireless communication systems. Wireless communication refers to the situation in which at least one party is making use of a portable, wireless two-way interactive communication device and a wireless network. Portable, wireless two-way interactive communication devices can, for example, include personal digital assistants (PDAs), two-way pagers, palm-sized computers, and mobile phones.
As the number of subscribers to wireless communication systems has increased, so have the number of services available to those subscribers. Email services, short message services, facsimile services, and voice mail services are among a few of the services which are available to the users of these devices in addition to standard phone service. Subscribers having a plurality of these services will also have a plurality of unique identifiers associated with the services. It is not uncommon for a subscriber to have a home phone number, a work phone number, a facsimile number, a home page URL and one or more email addresses in addition to the unique identifiers associated with their wireless services. All of these services and their associated identifiers provide the subscribing public with flexibility in terms of how they communicate with each other.
For those individuals that are of particular interest to a subscriber, a record (e.g. a contact list) may be kept as to the various ways to make contact. This record may be kept electronically (e.g. an address book on a computerized device) or non-electronically (e.g. personal organizers). For some organizations and groups, records of this type form the basis for their internal and external communications.
When a subscriber receives a message from another individual, the information required to contact that individual with a response may be contained within the received message. This information may comprise one or more direct contact identifiers (e.g. a phone number, an email address or a uniform resource identifier (URI)) and/or one or more indirect contact identifiers (e.g. the name of a person or a public place) that may be used to lookup a direct contact identifier in an accessible resource (e.g. the phone book).
The task of processing all this information falls to the users of these wireless communication devices. There are limitations associated with these wireless communication devices that make this task even more difficult. Specifically, the user interfaces and display screens associated with the wireless communications devices are not as user friendly as the input and viewing interfaces associated with personal computers. The processing power and storage capabilities are not comparable to their personal computer counterparts. Additionally, the users of these wireless communication devices may be performing other tasks (e.g. driving) that may limit their attention and/or ability to interact with the wireless communication device.
Traditional wireless communication devices, which support the types of services described above, generally require the user to place the wireless communication device into the appropriate mode of operation prior to inputting and utilizing contact information. In addition to changing the device's mode of operation, the user may be required to place the subject contact information into a particular field.
Wireless communication devices are currently and will continue to be mass-market electronic devices, and as such their success depends upon gaining acceptance among large segments of the population. Three of the most important factors, which will contribute to this success, are: 1) the price of the device, 2) the device features and 3) the user friendliness of the device. The processing power and storage capacity of wireless communication devices is largely limited by the pricing constraints associated with devices of this type. These factors have considerable influence on the success or failure of these types of devices. The user friendliness (i.e. ease of use) of a wireless communication device is one of the most important features considered by consumers when making a purchase decision regarding such devices. More specifically, the wireless communication device should be easy to use in the environment and under the conditions in which consumers find themselves desiring to use the device.
To improve the user friendliness of wireless communication, the device manufacturers and associated software developers have incorporated software which adds features such as automatic number identification and recognition of uniform resource indicators (URIs) present in text. These methods have generally been focused on dealing with a single type of identifier (e.g. a phone number or a URI) and may require the user to highlight an identifier of interest prior to utilization.
In view of the foregoing, it would be desirable to have an apparatus and/or method that could enhance a subscriber's ability to utilize and manage contact identifier information in conjunction with the use of a wireless communication device.